autumnatmu5541 - Module5

Assignment 5_1: Search Engine Comparison

Sample research question (relevant to the selected tools!):
What women were winners of the Nobel Prize and why did they earn this honor?
Query/queries used search syntax, keywords, phrases: “women nobel prize winners”

Search tools & logos	Instagrok www.instagrok.com Brenda McPherson	Askkids www.askkids.com Amelia Reiniger	Finding Dulcinea www.findingdulcinea.com Autumn Kirker
Describe the interface	It is an interactive visual interface.	It is very much aimed toward children. Colorful and fun with interesting polls that welcome you.	It has a very visual interface with some images, and looks very organized.
How are results returned?	Provides a web diagram to explore and a listing of sites, videos, and images on the right.	Provided multiple links, pictures, and other reworded options to search under.	Provides a search results list containing articles from their site only, and the option to search selected sites, or the entire web.
Special features	Key Facts section. Difficulty of material selection Graph Interface Journal tab to keep track of research.	On the left hand side of the page, you have the option to select: everything, images, news, videos, Q&A, Reference, Apps, shopping, local, maps and games. They also offer an advanced search feature. On the top of the page they offer a tab called Q&A Community where you can submit any real question you might be asking. Anyone in the “ask.com community” can answer it.	Offers great web guides to teaching tips to researching the internet. Has a “Beyond the Headlines” tab offering top stories featured on their site. Also has blogs, RSS feed, and a newsletter. A special feature is the “Sweet Search” option which is a search engine for students. The search results have been evaluated by the site’s research experts.
What happened?	I typed in the search words and a web diagram appeared with possible subtopics, and the list of key facts, websites, and videos accompanied on the right hand side.	As I searched our selected phrase, results popped up such as lists of women nobel prize winners. The was only one ad on the top of the page and on the right side were current news articles and Q&A where popular questions asked about the topic were answered.	A traditional search list was compiled from my search words (with 20 results). The default settings only search articles from website, but gives you optional tabs to search outside of site. A small box of search results pops up titled “results from selected sites.” Fact Monster is one of their selected sites.
Strengths	The key facts sections provides a good foundation of information and works great with the first stage of any of ISP models we have been looking at it. Looking at Stripling’s model, it provides background information in the CONNECT step to students who may know very little on a subject, and can spark the next phase of the process, the WONDER stage where students could generate questions for their research project.	I really liked the reworded search phrases that it offers. I think this would work well in the exploration stage in Kuhlthau’s ISP. The Popular Q&A was interesting too. Someone could use that section to start narrowing down their ideas to find a focus or a point of interest. I do like the kid friendly feature about it. It is one step to ensuring students are not being exposed to inappropriate images.	This website appears to be a good research tool for students. It seems to have little distractions or diversions compared to other search tools. This site can support Kuhlthau’s ISP model by providing a confirmation during the selection process. If the student finds valuable information when searching this site, and then being referred to additional sources, they will feel optimistic about their topic.
Weaknesses	As you click on the diagram, new information appears that takes you away from your original query which may be confusing for some student researchers. I wanted to read the information provided because it was interesting but not necessarily on the topic.	I wouldn’t really say this was a weakness, however this search tool was set up in a similar way to Google. There wasn’t really too many big differences. One major thing I did NOT like was the first ad that greeted me on the askkids.com welcom page. It was a advertisement for plan parenthood. Maybe I am wrong, but I thought this was a search engine for kids... not teens. Maybe they should consider making a seperate one for teens.	The webpage has a very educational feel. It looks very scholarly, and may not appeal to a younger researcher. However, once you click on the search results, there are pictures (young researchers like the visual component). I didn’t see any video in my search results; students also like video, and that seems to helps to connect them more to their topic. There were advertisements on the page, which is slightly distracting (not as heavy as competing search tools). Advertising on a research page seems to take some credibility away from the purpose of the content.
Would you recommend this search tool? For whom? In what situation?	I would recommend this tool for students and teachers. It is easy to use, and fun to use. It provides a great deal of information and puts it into subcategories. I think students in the 5th grade and up could use it in a beneficial manner.	Looking past that one bad advertisement, I would recommend this tool to teachers. It does have that nice kid-friendly search option. I would just forewarn teachers about that advertisement issue I ran into. I think it would best be used by 6th grade and up.	I would recommend this tool to students (grade 6-12), and teachers. I think that teachers could find valuable information for their lessons. I also think that students could find reliable information for research projects (without getting lost like in other BIG competing search engines). However, they should search outside of this site for pictures, videos, etc.